Free Scandinavian paper cutting patterns

The paper of a Scandinavian Christmas

The best known piece of Scandinavian paper craft is the woven heart, julehjerte in Danish: two folded pieces of paper, cut into strips and woven through one another to make a small heart-shaped basket for the Christmas tree. It is a Danish, Norwegian and north German craft. The oldest one known dates from 1860 and the oldest printed instructions from 1871, and glossy paper is the traditional choice. Round the heart go stars, garlands cut from folded strips, cones for sweets and the Yule goat, a Christmas figure across Scandinavia that is usually made of straw. Denmark also has the gækkebrev: a letter cut in a symmetrical pattern and sent unsigned before Easter, with dots standing for the letters of the sender’s name, which the receiver has to guess.

The patterns here are new drawings made by code in that spirit. They are not copies or tracings of historic cuts or of any maker’s work, and none carries lettering: the middle of the teaser letter is left blank for your own verse.

Paper, size and cutting

Every file is 100 mm on its longer side. For the woven heart that means two halves 100 mm long and 33 mm wide, which weave into a heart about 57 mm across; cut the file at 150 mm for a heart of about 85 mm. Use thin, smooth paper of 80 to 100 gsm in two colours, since card is too stiff to weave. The slits are drawn 0.7 mm wide so that every cutting machine opens them; with scissors, simply cut along them.

The other patterns list their narrowest strip of paper on each page: from 1.6 mm on the Christmas tree to 4.7 mm on the cone. The garlands are 100 mm long as drawn. To make a longer one, cut several and glue hand to hand, or cut the same shape from a strip folded like a fan.

How to open the files

• Cricut Design Space: choose Upload, pick the SVG, and add it to the canvas. Set the width you want; the shape is already welded.
• Silhouette Studio: Designer Edition and above open the SVG. The free Basic Edition does not, so open the DXF instead.
• LightBurn, xTool Creative Space and Glowforge: import the SVG, then set the layer to cut, score or engrave.
• Inkscape, Illustrator and Affinity: open the SVG. It is a plain filled path, so you can recolour it, add a stroke or combine it with your own work.
• Printing or sublimation: use the PNG, which has a transparent background.

Each design page lists the file’s narrowest part at seven sizes, so you can tell whether it will survive at the size you plan to cut.

Questions